House: Yet Again, People Don't Change

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Dr. House now has the freedom to go beyond work and home, since he had his ankle monitor removed last episode. So, he wastes no time in having the diagnostics meetings in places like a diner thirty miles away (Chris Christie's blog says that the pancakes are good there), a skeet shooting range, and a turtle-racing arena. I thought that this fit the character very well, as did the fact that he tries to hold new-found information over Foreman almost immediately after discovery. What doesn't fit the characters well? The fact that Foreman and House both chose the same diner... nowhere near the hospital. Maaaybe one of them reads Chris Christie's blog. Maaaaybe House already knew that's where he could find Foreman with his lady. Maaaybe it was just supposed to be a funny coincidence. I don't really buy any of these, though the idea that House knew he could find Foreman there seemed to be the most plausible. Anyway, main case aside, this episode was fairly amusing. Foreman's situation with people finding out about his affair took a different twist. The clinic patients were funny and House's diagnosis was rather clever. Taub's depression over his infant daughters being "boring" and Chase's subsequent bonding with the girls was cute. I'm glad that Taub found something to do "with" them by the end. 

House "Runaways" (S08E10): House examines a teenager in the clinic who has been having trouble breathing. House realizes that the patient is homeless, as is the guy who is posing as her father (two cans of beer is his payment). Once she starts bleeding from her ear, House decides that there's something there. Adams wants to call social services since the patient is obviously not 18, but House cut a deal with the patient - she won't bolt if he won't tell. [sounds like House!] Adams and Park go to the address that the girl listed, and find that it's a foreclosed house that has food, water, and beer. But, there is mold under the sink. [does anyone else get sick of them finding mold and fungus all the time?] The patient gets pissed that they also went to her school, so she tries to flee. However, she has no feeling in her legs. [this also seems to be a repetitive theme on the show.]

Cr: Adam Taylor/FOX

The team watch House skeet-shoot while they do a differential. [will anything ever top the time that the team did a differential in the monster truck?] Adams is still adamant in calling social services, and House tells her that if she makes a shot, she can call. Well, she gets it, but House hires a hooker to act as a social worker, which only momentarily fools Adams and Taub. [I laughed really hard. Then I re-winded to try and figure out what gave her away... I don't think I would have picked up on it in real life.] The girl tries to leave again, but the real social services shows up, along with the girl's mother. She begins vomiting blood, and Adams gets the mother's consent for an endoscopy. The patient ran away from home because her mother became oxy addict. The girl got tired of working and taking care of her mom, so she left to do things on her own terms. [kudos. When I moved to college and only had to worry about my own laundry and food, my life got ten times easier.] The tests reveal that the patient has an ulcer in her esophagus, and may need brain surgery as well. But, Adams thinks that it's alcoholism, which causes the patient's mother to not sign off on the operation. House tells the patient's mother she needs the surgery, and that he's going to do it anyway. He also leaves a bottle of oxy on the bench, and when the mother returns it, she demands the alcoholism treatment be started on her daughter. [I wasn't thrilled about House's taunting the addict, but whatever.] Well, it looks like an aneurysm after all, so they perform surgery. In yet another turn of events, it's not an aneurysm but a worm infection... the patient swam in a Florida canal a few years ago and picked up some worms that were dormant until now. [gross! but, a good lesson. I knew a lot of kids who didn't think anything of swimming in those nasty canals!] As soon as she's well enough, the patient takes off, leaving her mother a note to tell her mother that she doesn't think she's changed. [good. I would have been pissed if they had reconciled.] 

Now, the clinic patients... House treats two civil war re-enacters who stay in-character during the exam. One has diarrhea, and comes back on his own having accidentally shot himself in the foot. [really? he'd go to a clinic for that? Not the ER?] Then, both are back with projectile vomiting - House diagnoses it as cheap polyester uniforms made with antimony, which poisons you after a while. [hahaha!]

Onward to the House/Foreman situation... While having a diagnostics meeting at a diner, the team sees Foreman with his married lady-friend, and House snaps photos. [of course.] Foreman claims that it's just a business breakfast with a pharmaceutical representative. Chase does Foreman a favor by deleting the photos in House's phone, but it doesn't make much of a difference... House has 4"x6" photos printed that he uses to blackmail Foreman into not giving him any extra clinic hours. [the nation saw this coming, but it was still a bit funny.] Foreman goes to his lady-friend and tells her about how House has threatened to show the pictures to the husband... but she says that she admitted the truth to him already. [people are weird. that is all.] Foreman decides that he feels extra guilt now, and asks the lady to tell her husband that they stopped "being together" so they could sneak around again. [give it up, Foreman.] She ends up breaking it off, and Foreman tells House that he's just not an affair guy. [who wants to bet that Foreman does this again anyway?]
 


Last, the rest of the characters. (Adams' only storyline was that she can shoot, and Park got a measly few lines when she got into the turtle-racing.) Taub admits to Foreman and Chase that his kids are boring to watch. [they don't come out of the womb ready to ride bicycles, Taub.] Chase plays with the kids, which bothers Taub even more. [why are they all hanging out outside the hospital now? This didn't happen in the early seasons...] Taub goes to Wilson to find out how to become interested in someone, since Wilson has to do this when he relates to his cancer patients. The advice is as you might expect: find common ground - something you both like or hate. Taub still struggles to enjoy his children, so he decides to read a sports magazine to them, which he finds to be fun. [oooook.]